Corporal punishment:

On Thursday 28 February 2013, Kurt Bayer of the NZ Herald published a 'news report' stating "Inquest: NZ Soldier took own life in Afghanistan".  The brief few lines stated that the death was a suicide and the Coroner, Gordon Matenga, was satisfied with the causes and circumstances of the so called 'investigation' and 'Court of Inquiry' conducted by the Defence Force - the victim's employer.

On Sunday the 3rd March two further articles were published in the Herald, one at 11:30 a.m. entitiled "Defence Force not talking on soldier's death", which briefly outlined the statement that:

"the Defence Force" was "disappointed that the media chose to ignore the directions of the Coroner and publish an article today about the death of Corporal Douglas Hughes.  The Defence Force was asked a number of questions which they declined to answer as the Coroner had directed that "In addition to the standard order under section 71, pursuant to section 74 Coroners Act 2006, I prohibit from publication all evidence including the report of the Court of Inquiry, in the interests of justice and on the basis of personal privacy.  The wishes of the family as expressed to the New Zealand Defence Force was not to publicly comment on this case, and to allow the family the time and space they needed to come to terms with their loss and grief.

A second report was then published on Sunday 3rd March (at 3:40 p.m.) titled Privacy ignored in soldier's death.  This report repeated the previous propaganda, but zeroed in on the head of the Defence Force, Lt Gen Rhys Jones, and then the cracks started to appear in the story:

"We recognise that this has been a difficult issue for the family and our sympathies and support are with them," he said.
"The wishes of the family as expressed to the New Zealand Defence Force was not to publicly comment on this case, and to allow the family the time and space they needed to come to terms with their loss and grief."
Lt Gen Jones said the Defence Force provided personnel with psychological and physical health support before, during and after their deployment on operational missions.
He would make no further comment on the matter."

At 5:30 a.m. a report by David Fisher in the Herald revealed that the Coroner had attacked gay marriage in a submission to parliament strongly opposing a proposed gay marriage Bill, and that he was a former Mormon Bishop and an elder of the Mormon Church.  It also revealed that although the earlier reports had mislead readers into believing that an inquest had been held, in fact it hadn't.

Also at 5:30 a.m. another report appeared, by David Fisher and Audrey Young.  It was titled Family want open inquest and revealed that the earlier reports had been nothing more than carefully constructed propaganda.

Douglas Hughes and his proud family.  Douglas was of Ngapuhi descent.

Corporal Hughes' uncle Mike Poa said the family held strong concerns about the Defence Force's handling of the incident.

"The army have abdicated their responsibility." 

He said the family had hoped the coronial inquiry would satisfy their questions and he was angry Mr Matenga had decided not to hold an inquest. 

"It's his job to do an investigation."

"We're not embarrassed by the fact he [Corporal Hughes] is gay. I just feel personally they didn't do enough to support him. My feeling is perhaps he lacked access to the assistance he deserved."

"I don't think we've been told the truth," said Mr Poa. 

"The family reportedly believe Corporal Hughes was bullied because he was gay and received no support from commanders."

At 5:00 on the 4th March 2013 a report was published on the Stuff website saying that a contingent of troops was sent to Afghanistan unprepared for the deployment because of the defence force's involvement in the Rugby World Cup.

Fairfax Media learned that a Court of Inquiry into the death last year of Corporal Douglas Hughes, 26, found that because of the NZDF's involvement in World Cup security in September and October of 2011, training for the group, known as CRIB19, was reduced from the standard five weeks to just three.

The inquiry found that this meant various training outcomes were not achieved, including stress management and identification, there were not enough medical resources or training, and other contributing factors.  The report stated that the death of Corporal Douglas Hughes was preventable.

There was no inquest into my brother's death either, which was claimed to be suicide, until I obtained the file, which revealed that it was certainly not.  The pathologist told Police "I am not prepared to say that this man died of natural causes because he didn't."  Similarities too with the cover up regarding the death of Nicholas Ward Harris by the Department of Corrections.

This article appeared in the Northern Advocate shortly after Douglas's death:

"Venus Poa loved singing with her tall, handsome son Corporal Douglas Hughes.
They were karaoke stars, warbling through Cruisin' in the hit duet style of Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow. 

So Venus was delighted when she got a phone call from Afghanistan on her birthday late last month and 26-year-old Dougie wished her many happy returns.  "He said he would be home soon and I said I would be counting the days, as I couldn't wait to see him." 

But Dougie came home in a box after dying mysteriously while off-duty at the Romero Forward Patrol Base in Bamiyan province on April 3. The cause of his death has not been disclosed and is being investigated by the Army. 

"When I heard what had happened, I felt like my whole heart was ripped out," Ms Poa said. 

Dougie was buried after a military funeral at Pakotai last Thursday. Stricken, but keeping the tears at bay, Ms Poa has described the "hardest week of my life". 

"I really miss him. I am still coming to terms with his death," she said. "I don't know how long the investigation [into the cause of death] will take. I won't settle until I have closure on that." 

Ms Poa said Dougie was generous and affectionate. He had loved his family dearly and they had loved him. She recalled him eeling and camping as a youngster and growing into a leader in rugby, league and kapa haka. 

He enjoyed life in the army, which he had joined aged 17, but he hadn't been keen to serve a second tour of duty in Afghanistan, which he started in September last year.  "He went because he had trained some boys who were going over there for the first time and he didn't want to let them down," Ms Poa said. 

When the Northern Advocate asked how long the investigation into the cause of death could take, a Defence Force spokesman said: "Unfortunately, it simply is not possible to put a definitive timeframe on this process, which will include the collection of witness and expert medical testimony. The NZDF is also liaising closely with the coroner's office." 

The spokesman said the Defence Force had been keeping in touch with Corporal Hughes' family and would keep them informed of progress. 

Earlier, Defence Force chief Lieutenant General Rhys Jones would not be drawn on how Corporal Hughes had died, while an investigation was under way. 

"The only issues that we can confirm at this stage - there was no hostile action, no operational incident that caused his death," he said.  

At least one other person had been with Corporal Hughes when the incident occurred but General Jones would not reveal what they had said about the incident.

Corporal Douglas Hughes's mother says the coroner never contacted her family to ask whether they wanted an inquest into her son's death.

She has called for an open inquiry into the death because she believes a defence force Court of Inquiry was a ''whitewash''.

"There were a lot of flaws in this case." said Venus Poa.

An inquiry has found that Corporal Douglas Hughes's death was preventable, and that a contingent of troops was sent to Afghanistan unprepared for the deployment because of the defence force's involvement in the Rugby World Cup.

Pressure continues to mount for the inquest.  Hughes with his sergeant and another soldier right up until his death, the sergeant had frisked him for a weapon, obviously for a reason.  The sergeant failed in his duty to keep Corporal Douglas - and the other soldier -  safe and get him the support he needed.

A recent editorial in the Dominion Post has said that the Coroner has failed in his duty.  That justice must be seen to be done, that has been repeatedly flouted in this case, and that "There is only one way to fix the mess. The chief coroner must open an inquest. And he must tell Mr Matenga he's had his last chance."

Also relevant is the death of Serena Holroyd, Police Constable at Counties Manakau, who (while she was not gay, as far as I know) Serena was bullied by colleagues to the point where she just couldn't take it any more, and the culture of the Police and the armed forces needs transparency and investigation, because it's clearly dysfunctional - NZ has some of the highest rates of suicide in the world and here where I live we REGULARLY have TWICE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.

I recall an inquiry into allegations of bullying at Waiouru Cadet School a few years ago.  My father was head of the Cadet School for a few years and I know he wouldn't have covered up any bullying that happened while he was in charge, because he stuck up for victims of bullying.  It's a shame Lt Gen Rhys Jones and Coroner Gordon Matenga do the opposite.

Coroner Gordon Matenga

Corporal Douglas Hughes

Other creative decisions of the Coroners are also at this link.

Other news reports etc, regarding the death of Douglas Hughes are at these links:
http://news.tangatawhenua.com/archives/17038

In a few days it will be Anzac Day, 2013.  The Court Martial regarding the helicopter crash that happened on Anzac Day two years ago has found Flt Lt Pezzaro not guilty because of the culture of poor decision making that was in place at the time, serious questions have also been raised in the matter of the death of another soldier, Michael Ross, who drowned in Lake Moawhanga, his funeral was held hours after the violent death of another soldier from Linton.

NZ Police Constable Serena Holroyd's suicide, her family's petition:

Police constable Serena Holroyd is believed to have committed suicide in March 1996 as a result of being subjected to the kind of cruel, sadistic, misogynist, bullying, incompetence and corruption as I've received from the New Zealand police since I arrived in Carterton.

Reading the information received from the Coroner's Office, and the other information that can be found by those who care to look, is harrowing, and profoundly moving.  It tells the story of a Constable who tried to do her job to the best of her (obviously considerable) ability, with a particular interest in helping the victims of domestic violence, who was bullied, lied to, harassed, mocked and abused for not joining in the obligatory "jug sessions" in the police bar after work, and then let down by a senior officer who failed to support her as he'd promised and corrupt and incompetent colleagues in the Counties Manakau police district.

Here is her parents petition to parliament, and parliament's insulting response.  To optimise viewing, click  the < symbol in the top left hand corner, then use the scroll bars, or view the petition and related documents at this link:

It is disgraceful, and an insult to democracy, that Parliament have redesigned their website so that petitions are almost impossible to locate now, and all that can be found by researchers is the insulting dismissal at this link.  Once at that link readers can click on the link in the right hand sidebar titled "As reported by the Law and order Committee" but that will only lead to the response, not the actual petition.  Because of that we have reproduced the petition here on this site.

"Petition/submission 2008/118, to the law and order committee
Serena Holroyd

In 1993, my daughter Serena Holroyd joined the Police as a mature successful woman. 

In March 1996, after three years in the Police, she took her own life.
My family and I believe that the police were directly responsible for her death, and we have evidence to support this claim.  

Summary of actions my family and I have taken, and the result of these actions:
Shortly after Serena's death, my husband and I wrote to the Police, outlining 13 points of concern. (EncI, item 1) 

The Police responded to this letter by conducting an internal inquiry by two non−sworn staff members, Jenny Prentice and Alison Gracey. 

This inquiry was very critical of Police management and practice. We understood that Police management accepted the findings. 

A second inquiry was conducted by the Police, this time by two sworn members, Detective Superintendent P Marshall and Senior Sergeant G Gibson. 

My family and I were not informed that this inquiry was to take place. 

The Police arrived at our home, and asked for personal details about my daughter, which we innocently handed over.   

We believed the two Police officers were engaged in an objective inquiry. 

It was only much later that we discovered that the Police officers were intent on destroying the first inquiry's credibility, and digging up any possible unfavourable issues associated with Serena, ( They even investigated her father) I am angry that Serena, her father and myself have been treated with such little respect by the Police. To say the last inquiry was bankrupt is an understatement. 

My family and I have evidence that the Police went to extraordinary lengths to destroy my daughter's career, including the setting of objectives that no other Police officer has had to do in police history. 

When my family and I tried to lay a complaint with the Police Complaints Commissioner, we were unsuccessful because they do not look at employment issues. We discovered that junior Police officers and their families have no independent path of complaint. They are the only government employees without this. 

The Police Act and the States Services Act require the Police to be good employers at all times. In Serena's case, they have failed badly. 

My family and spent a great deal of time making a submission to the Bazley inquiry into Police conduct. She refused to look at 95% of our evidence. We were very disappointed with the results of the inquiry, because no−one was held to account in our case.. The law was not changed. Junior Police officers still have very little protection. 

After a long delay, we finally got hold of the 1000+ pages of internal Police documents. These documents revealed many interesting issues, for example, the dispute that a Mr B Hartley, District Commander, Counties−Manukau. He was angry about the findings of the Prentice−Gracey report. Mr Hartley was Serena's employer, and a very bad employer, in our opinion. He believed that the Police had not, by conducting this inquiry been a good employer. We have evidence that District Commander Hartley obtained confidential details contained in the Prentice−Gracey report, and set out to destroy its credibility. 

• At our expense, my family and I employed a Barrister to review the evidence and write a report. (Encl. Item 3)  We have gone to the Ombudsman, the State Services Commission, and the Human Rights Commission, all without any success. They are unable or unwilling to help us. 

• Since 2003, the Police have refused to answer any of our letters. (Encl. Item 4) 

All our letters have been met by massive delays by the police. It has taken 15 years, and we have still not resolved this issue. Delay and Obstruction Appears to be standard Police procedure. Many Officers who engaged in this Practice have risen to Senior Positions in the Police. 

Summary:
As stated at the beginning of this letter, my family and I want an independent inquiry into the events surrounding my daughter's death. No one has been held accountable for the appalling treatment my Serena received as a Police Officer, or their treatment of my family since her death.
Enclosed:
1.
Orig
2.
Prer
3.
Our
4.
Polii
Original letter of Complaint. 27 March 1996
Prentice ,Gracey Report. 29 August 1996
Our Barristers review of the case. Grant Millar. 13 June 2002
Police refusal to reply letter. 16 December 2003. W Annan
C M Holroyd

C/47−6 Newhaven st,
Ellerslie,
Auckland 5.
27.3.96.
z
The Hon J Luxton MP.
Minister of Police.
clo Parliament House,
Wellington.

Dear Mr Luxton,

We are writing to you regarding the recent death by suicide of our daughter Serena Holroyd, probationary police officer number F 489.

We believe her death was directly attributed to the very poor treatment she received during her employment with the N.Z. Police.

It is the duty of every employer to look after their employees, and the police seem to have totally failed in this respect.

We have specific concerns focusing upon the following issues:

1.Continued refusal to grant Serena her permanent appointment despite her completing and exceeding all her work and examination requirements.

2. The lack of a stable work environment, 4 police stations and 20 different sergeants in a period of 28 months.

3.A near total lack of administrative support to enable ajunior police officer to come to terms with the job requirements.

4.Relentless overwork, always having to complete paper work in her own time.

5.Discriminatory refusal to be granted examination leave.

6.Expected to take on a large work load and to train others while still a probationary officer.

7.Repeated absence of a duty sergeant for back−up while on front line duty.

8. Acute on−going under staffing at the Mangere Station.

9. Working on her own at night attending violent domestic disputes and walking the beat in central Auckland.

10. An unresolved sexual harassment incident.

11.Little or no training in the skills needed to be a shift worker,

12. Serena was given a hard time for refusing to take part in "JUG" sessions after work and drive home drunk.

13 .Just how impartial are performance appraisals? It would seem personal prejudices influence assessments.  Information has been given to us from several sources and it is our considered view
that a full ministerial investigation be implemented, with some degree of urgency into this very serious matter. While nothing can be done to bring our precious daughter back, changes must be made to help prevent other young police officers from being placed in such an
untenable situation.

yours faithfully

D.M.Holroyd. C.M.Holroyd.
______________________

Here's the submissions of the NZ Police and the insulting response from parliament:

"The Law and Order Committee has considered Petition 2008/118 of Coral Holroyd, that

the House of Representatives conduct an inquiry into the treatment of Police Officer
Serena Holroyd and the Police’s conduct after her death. 

We sought and received submissions from the petitioner, the New Zealand Police, and the Independent Police Conduct Authority. We have considered the material provided to us by the petitioner with much sympathy, and we appreciate the distress that resulted from Ms Holroyd’s untimely death in 1996. However, we note that there have been several inquiries into Ms Holroyd’s death, and our consideration of the petition and other related material has not revealed sufficient grounds or new avenues for re-opening the case to examination. 

The committee has no matters to bring to the attention of the House. We recommend that the House take note of our report."  

What a damning indictment of our corrupt, rotten, taxpayer funded Police force.


What an utter, utter insult to the family and friends of  Serena Holroyd.

What an insult to Jenny Prentice and Alison Gracey, the investigators who had the courage to speak up and tell the truth for Serena Holroyd and her family.


What an irony that when a young woman complained to the Police that a foreign diplomat assaulted her, she is attacked so savagely by a howling, witch hunting mob.  They all seem to miss the point, she has not to my knowledge said one single word about the incident which is the subject of her Police complaint.  Toby Manhire got it right, except that the bloke with the big tie from Winston First he was referring to, Curwen Ares Rollison is not to be trusted one little bit - talk is all he's good at, like slithery old Ron Mark. 

I feel deeply for the family and friends of Serena Holroyd, and for Serena herself.  Silent now, but not forgotten.  I hope by writing about what happened to Serena here it will help her rest more peacefully, and comfort her family, knowing that the truth hasn't gone unnoticed.  Further information can be obtained regarding the death of Serena Holroyd, by writing to Coronial Services at Coronial.Information@justice.govt.nz and requesting it. 

Why has this matter not been reported in any New Zealand 'news' media - and why has this family  - like so many other people - been silenced with this 'slap in the face and shut up' response from our government?!

We pay taxes to enable our government to govern our communities and our country effectively, that money is being ripped off by incompetent and corrupt individuals every day and the more they get away with it the more the problem grows like a poisonous cancer, infecting more and more new recruits as it's allowed to fester unhindered.

This is the price of ignoring and enabling Police corruption, and ignoring it IS enabling it.  The proverbial thirty pieces of silver, and people like Peter Marshall and Senior Sergeant G Gibson who thirst for the baubles of office and are so easily corrupted - the National Business Review found that there is an "alarming amount of bribery in New Zealand."  Nearly three-quarters of New Zealanders (73%) felt corruption had increased in this country in the last three years and political parties were rated the most corrupt group, followed by Parliament and the private sector, and that article was published four years ago.  Transparency International claims to report the perception of corruption, Transparency NZ actually does something about corruption, something worthwhile and constructive.

A lot of petitions circulate on the internet, most of them are never even presented to anyone.  Of the ones that are presented in New Zealand, many of them are rejected for lack of form or compliance with parliament's standing orders.  This can be avoided by reading the relevant rules, which can be found at this link.  Petitioners need to find a sitting MP prepared to present the petition to parliament just for a start.

The sound of silence: Suicide in the Wairarapa, our national shame:

Children and teenagers make a lot of noise, when they're suddenly not there any more you notice the silence.  A lot.  

When your child suddenly passes away, or your brother, or someone you know, and there are questions about why it happened, you listen to that silence, thinking, wondering if you didn't listen carefully enough to what they were trying to tell you, or if there was something that you missed.

Wairarapa had more than double the national rate of suicide - AGAIN! This is the fourth year in a row that Wairarapa has recorded the highest rates of self harm in New Zealand. Wairarapa had a rate of 162.3 people hospitalised for self-harm for every 100,000 people in 2010, according to figures released today, over twice the national rate of 66 per 100,000. New Zealand has some of the highest rates of suicide in the world, and has consistently had one of the highest rates for years - it's a matter that gives cause for national shame, it's unnecessary and in most cases it's preventable, and being caused by the very people we are funding to prevent it, who are not performing.  Authorities are not interested in investigating complaints from consumers, they are focused on covering up incompetence and corruption and maintaining the status quo.  Ignorance is the art of ignoring things.  This is the cost of that ignorance, the violence, crime, child abuse, addiction and suicide, which are all so prevalent in the Wairarapa.

Bullying in schools starts with the Board of Trustees bullying the suicide prevention initiatives like Friends of Caring Kiwi Communities and the Let's Get Growing NZ program, and this matter illustrates well the conspiracy involving local police, who lied to the Board of Trustees of the South End School in Carterton, who in turn lied to the police - indisputable evidence of these claims is at the link and much more is available to doubters - leave a comment and it will be provided.

Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean released provisional annual suicide statistics for the year ending 30 June 2012 today, and some of his comments on this disgraceful and shameful national record. Good on Judge Neil MacLean for speaking up!

This is the third year Judge MacLean has made the annual suicide statistics available, and tried to encourage New Zealanders to address this problem, identify it, name it, talk about it, and take constructive and effective action to stop it and prevent it. Judge MacLean says we are going backwards, not forwards, and that indicates that the current methods of dealing with the problem are not working. I can certainly attest to that!

In the past year the total number of suicides was 547. The average number of suicides for each of the past five years is 543.

Of particular concern is the 15 to 19-year-old age group, which, at 37, was almost double the average of the previous four years.

"I am concerned that we seem to be making no impact (on youth suicide rates), there's no visible downward trend at all," Judge MacLean, said.

"Other ethnic groups remain much the same - Asian Pacifica, non-Maori - but the Maori statistics, that's concerning."

Suicides in the 15 to 19-year-old age group were up from 56 in 2010-11 to 80 in 2011-12.

Shockingly, the report records a suicide among the five to nine-year-old age group, and apparently there have been two suicides in this age group in the last year but the other one is apparently not included in Judge MacLean's report due to a discrepancy between the two sets of figures (Coronial Services and Ministry of Health, more on this below).

It is the youngest suicide case the Ministry of Justice's Coronial Services Unit (CSU) has dealt with since comprehensive records began in 2007.

The Coronial Services Unit suicide figures for 2010 differ from Ministry of Health figures released last month. There are several reasons for this. The classification system used by the Ministry of Health to code underlying cause of death is not strictly comparable with the system used by CSU to assign 'intent'. CSU data includes active cases before Coroners where intent has yet to be conclusively established. This means that the CSU figures include deaths that may eventually be found not to be suicides. In addition, Ministry of Health figures are recorded by calendar year.

Over the past year, the number of Maori suicides have increased across most age groups. NZ is going backwards in this disgraceful and shameful blight on our society.

The Mental Health Foundation Suicide Prevention Information NZ has links to other reports on their website, unfortunately they are out of touch with what's really going on and instead of addressing the real problems in the Wairarapa community (which regularly has around twice the national average of suicide, ) of injustice and police corruption, and systemic bullying and abuse, they promote police propaganda instead. One of the major concerns shared by many friends and family of suicide victims (and others in the community) in the Wairarapa is the message "talk to someone", and the role of the police in dealing with suicides and victims of violence, abuse, and bullying, and the way the policy of "information sharing" is being implemented. I can personally confirm that many of the corrupt and incompetent Wairarapa police actually encourage suicide and support people like Julian Tyerman, who encouraged me to commit suicide on a bullying website he built in my name, all the posts except one have since been removed by Tyerman, but not before I copied and pasted his sickening comments - the police of course refuse to charge him with offensive language or anything else (there are a number of charges that would apply to the material Tyerman published). When you consider that Tyerman's own brother committed suicide, you realise just how sick he is and why he should be charged.

The police have been under investigation for around five years regarding the discovery of systemic concealment and destruction of hundreds of child abuse complaints. When victims of violence, abuse and bullying try and pluck up the courage to speak up, only a fraction manage to find that courage and do so, and when the police compound the problem by reabusing the victim and protecting the offender, it's not hard to work out the results. The victims learn a lesson and are discouraged from speaking up, and the offenders are empowered. There is definitely a link between incompetence and corruption within the local police and 'community agencies' and the outrageous local suicide rates.

There is not just one cause of suicide, there are many, every one is unique, although there are many things in common, and many identifiable causes - and solutions. Factors such as poverty and unemployment drive many suicides, abuse and bullying are common causes, inappropriate medication and other 'treatment', a sense of hopelessness and injustice. Poor self esteem and boredom are common factors in some. All these things can be changed.

Friends of Caring Kiwi Communities is working to establish a united network of Community Resource Centre and Community Gardens to strengthen Kiwi communities in practical and constructive ways, and address the real problems in our communities as individuals instead of a one size fits all approach. We had a real Community Centre in Carterton, and community gardens, until they were taken over by a group of individuals who were mainly associated with the District Council, a major funder of the Centre. They transformed a great community resource into a cash cow for themselves, despite the obvious conflicts of interest, before being forced to close it down when other funders became aware of what was going on. The Councillors and their mates then obtained another few million dollars and built an 'Event Centre', which they use to spread propaganda rather than provide resources and facilitate constructive and inclusive dialogue.

Local initiatives generally operate for the benefit of the people running them rather than the clients, and the standard of the people running them leaves a lot to be desired, and is an insult to the clients in many cases, with many of the people running these organisations having been in the positions for far too long, and they only maintain the positions by excluding people from their AGMs and other meetings by the use of trespass notices, etc, as the committee of the Carterton Community Centre and local Council, etc did. Siobahn Garlick, the manager of 'New Directions' doesn't seem to know the difference between "loonies and alcoholics" - what an insult to mental health patients or anyone suffering from depression! Vulnerable people in our community need a FOCKCer Community Resource Centre and Community Gardens, NOT the insult to the intelligence currently being provided by they myriad of ineffective 'community organisastions' flourishing under such ridiculous community leaders as Georgina Beyer, Gary McPhee and Ron Mark! These so called 'community leaders' are adding to the problem - not solving it! Kiwi kids deserve better than this - we all do! (To be continued).

Many corrupt police support the actions of their mates in the 'community agencies', and promote their policy of illegal and destructive information sharing with these people.

We're always hearing "we need more resources" - well we don't. What we need is some accountability regarding how our taxpayer and ratepayer funds are being wasted! Look at how much money was wasted locking me up in a secure facility for the criminally insane, with people convicted of murder and manslaughter, after a corrupt 'psychiatrist', Brenda Sally Rimkeit, and a few of her equally corrupt colleagues, conspired to label me with "Delusional Disorder" for raising awareness regarding the corruption and incompetence of many of the local police officers, and locked me up for months, for criticising local police for very good reasons supported with indisputable evidence (not to mention all the money wasted on the campaign of malicious and vexatious charges brought against me).

This money was wasted on a person who didn't have a mental illness (and Rimkeit and her colleagues knew this perfectly well), while there are hundreds if not thousands of New Zealanders who are desperately in need of those resources!

What a chilling insight that was into how mental health patients are treated in this country too! Medication is the order of the day, it's all I was offered - my "Treatment Plan" states that I am not to be given writing materials, paper etc, no mail in or out, no phone calls in or out, no visitors - what kind of "treatment" is that?! That's no t'treatment' - that's plain sadistic corruption! Local mental health 'services' are an absolute disgrace, as evidenced by the link above to the 'New Directions' managers! Talk about the Emperor's new clothes!

There is evidence on the information I have received that there were a number of and untrue statements and allegations used to detain me illegally in the two mental health facilities, including claims that I had attempted suicide, and made lots of unwarranted complaints to police "when she previously lived in Wellington" according to the local constable. I have never attempted suicide, and that's why there is no evidence of that anywhere, and I made no complaints to police whatsoever when I previously lived in Wellington, not one.

The point is that the treatment for this alleged disorder was medication. Dangerous, strong medication intended for 'illnesses' I did not have. I was forcibly injected if I refused to take the pills, and what happened to me should ring alarm bells in the mind of every right thinking person, because if it can happen to me it can happen to anyone, and it's happening right here in New Zealand, it's taxpayer funded corruption on a massive scale.

The same police who are under investigation for covering up hundreds of child abuse cases and refusing to investigate them and lying about it - and then being promoted for that, are persecuting innocent people and wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer funds pursuing personal vendettas and actually covering up crime. When you examine the collusion and conspiracy of the other parties, the scale and magnitude of the problem becomes apparent, as do the implications.

Boredom and poor self esteem are two of the most common elements which contribute to depression (along with poverty and injustice). FOCKCer Community Resource Centres and Community Gardens, including gardens in schools address these issues constructively, as well as having other obvious benefits. Local journalists ignore the bullying going on regarding the local community gardens and the South End School garden, while promoting their friends' initiatives, which are often nothing more than an excuse to misappropriate large amounts of public funding. Let's Get Growing NZ and FOCKCer school gardens teach kids to grow their own kai, not just expect a handout. Handouts are OK, but teaching kids to grow and prepare their own kai addresses boredom, improves confidence and self esteem, and helps eliminate boredom - it's a wonderful thing - like eating lots of fresh organic fruit and vegetables, and doing physical work outside, it's not rocket science, but it can certainly lead to it :)

The gardens need tending over the summer, and the FOCKCers holiday program provide consistent care of the school gardens over the holidays, as well as holiday programs, including first aid courses, music tuition, art workshops, bicycle maintenance lessons, and a suggestion box for the inclusion of other activities of interest to the communities, the possibilities are endless. There's a lot of unemployment, but there's a lot of skilled people who can help teach those skills to others. We do Pet Therapy too, interacting with animals is very therapeutic indeed, and much more fun than just medication.

We need to get rid of the people running the failing 'community services' and support the ones with proven success - Friends of Caring Kiwi Communities (the FOCKCers) works to put the unity back in our communities, through the Let's Get Growing NZ program and Transparency NZ, establishing community resource centres and community gardens in every community, encouraging everyone to grow their own food, establishing gardens in schools and programs using gardening to teach a wide variety of life skills, including suicide prevention skills, and provide a safe environment to talk with people trained to respond appropriately and provide practical and effective support according to the needs of the individual.

5:30 am Thursday the 6th September, it's just been reported that Gabrielle Meyrick has died, aged just 17, in Masterton, last Sunday. Kiwi kids deserve better than this.

Judge Maclean said suicide had to be brought out of the shadows and he was worried by the increases in certain demographics.

"I am concerned that we seem to be making no impact - there has been no visible downward trend at all. Our job is to tell the public the facts - I am no more qualified to suggest an answer or a solution than anyone.

"Part of the problem is there are so many agencies who have something to contribute - it does need to be coordinated and pulled together.

"My hunch is there is a link. People don't commit suicide because they're poor, it's because they feel utterly at the end of their tether, but it doesn't help if you've got no money."

He's spot on about all the useless and uncoordinated community agencies! They are creating problems, not solving them! They don't provide advocacy - they might provide an extremely limited amount of it but the fact is that none of the agencies or organisations operating locally provide advocacy and there is a huge amount of correspondence documenting that, much of it on this site.

They're all focussed on the funding, not their clients. Friends of Caring Kiwi Communities is all about co-ordination, we put the unity back in our communities, and help everyone pull together. We ensure services are focussed on needs, and that money's not wasted on the same old people and their 'community organisations' that benefit the people running them - not the clients. 'An ageing society that doesn't care for it's young has a death wish' is how Dame Anne Salmond describes it. ('There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children' - Nelson Mandela). We need support - we don't just have bullying in schools, we have bullies RUNNING the schools, serious, blatant incompetence and corruption, and nobody is doing anything about it, none of the government agencies who are supposed to, not the Police, the IPCA or the Ombudsmen, none of them. Transparency NZ is exposing them for what they are, and taking constructive action to prevent suicide through a community garden program, establishing gardens in schools and trained facilitators, and together with the FOCKCers and Let's Get Growing NZ, we're making a difference, and we need support.

The message being given to kids at risk is "Talk to someone" - the problem is that the people you get to talk to in the Wairarapa are incompetent and corrupt, and in many cases they are the very people perpetrating the abuse, and they've been doing it for years - Barry Taylor refused to engage with the people who mattered, other so called 'experts' are nothing more than attention seeking idiots. People like this are causing more harm than good! What these people think the community organisations are doing is so far removed from reality it's an insult to the people in need of help around here!

Kiwi kids deserve better than this, they deserve Friends of Caring Kiwi Communities, notNARK, not New Directions, or any of those other 'initiatives' where the staff are more worried about their own jobs and their funding than they are about their clients. We provide real services to the community, we aim to establish community resource centres and community gardens - practical resources that clients and consumers urgently need, as well as advocacy, Pet Therapy, tuition in a range of life skills and extra curricular activities, people to talk to who care, and who are trained to take effective and appropriate action when required, and provide effective and appropriate support.  We aim to put the Unity back into our commUnities, and assist all vulnerable, at risk, low income, less advantaged people in particular to establish gardens, fruit trees, vegetable patches, and learn to grow their own food, prepare it, cook it, preserve it, trade it and eat it.  By establishing gardens in the schools and child care centres we enrich the lives of children in so many ways, we provide a big basket of fruit and big pot of soup (and porridge if needed)  Kids as young as eight are being treated for anorexia. Another reason for gardens in schools and healthy eating programs and healthy relationships with food.

A 25 year old was killed yesterday after being struck by a train, police say it was a deliberate act.  We've got used to seeing headlines like this on a regular basis, it's unacceptable and unnecessary.

Instead of providing support, local police and mental health workers are perpetrating gross injustices and abuses on vulnerable people and perverting the course of justice - it's no coincidence that the National Business Review reported that "there is an alarming amount of bribery in New Zealand."  It's blatantly obvious in the Wairarapa and the wider Wellington region.  Transparency inNew Zealand encourages anyone who believes they have been treated corruptly or unjustly to document their experience and unite with our interactive community news network and other shared resources to establish community resource centres and community gardens that operate in the interests of safe and healthy communities - we can no longer tolerate a society where the message given to suicidal people or potentially suicidal people is "Talk to someone" when we ignore the fact that the very people paid to listen are not doing so and no action is being taken regarding the evidence that local police have been promoted for covering up child abuse and no constructive action has been taken whatsoever, and victims of crime are being harassed, abused, bullied and treated sadistically and callously by local police.  Talk to someone?  Talk to the world - leave a comment, email me, start a blog of your own and publish indisputable evidence of corruption and start your own local branch of Transparency NZ, making Official Information Act requests and Privacy Act requests, and helping others to do the same, and share information constructively, in the public interest and in the interests of justice.

Support Friends of Caring Kiwi Communities to establish practical and effective suicide prevention resources and programs in schools and communities throughout New Zealand and the Pacific NOW by emailing kateraue@gmail.com - join the FOCKCers and help us build strong healthy self sufficient commUnities, providing primary health care directly where it's needed - in people's back yards - treating boredom and poor self esteem, etc, helping with literacy, confidence, patience, consistency, communication, and other basic life skills, work skills, and good physical and mental health.

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Chelsea Brindle Thabrew

Chelsea Brindle Thabrew, 8. January 1977 - 29 March 2010

"Chelsea, to her family and friends, was firstly a lover of nature. Barefooted, shy, freespirited, observing the little things in a bigger world, mending a broken wing, hatching a duckling, nurturing her chickens, plucking tiny wildflowers and looking up their names. Admiring dewdrops captured in the petals of a flower, untangling hedgehogs from the fishing netting of the tennis court. Exploring, learning, and investigating and always asking why?

Her first degree, a master's in biology was followed by her first real job, research into the co-dependence of native mistletoe and bell birds. Based in the Canterbury bush, they were some of the happiest days in her busy life. She was amazed when her findings were included in a publication. Such was her modesty.

She was sensitive, observant, insecure, artistic and creative, quiet, and contemplative, modest and private. Popular, loyal, quaint, quick witted and quirky, and funny. A great and fast talker! She loved learning, loved drawing, loved creating small whimsical gifts. She loved music and reading and always the wandering and exploring.

As a doer, always doing, she was attuned to the needs of others, and her passion for cooking and baking resulted in little treats for friends in need of nurturing. Beautifully packaged and presented. She was fastidious - a perfectionist.

Then came medicine, and she adored it all. The hands-on with patients, the research, and always the learning, the why? It was as a house surgeon that she met Hiran, a paediatrician retraining as a psychiatrist, and was completely blown away by him. Courtship followed and she knew he was the one.

Travel became a passion as she immersed herself in diverse cultures, soaking up the colours and smells of life. She couldn't get enough. The joy she showed that she had found her soul mate in Hiran was there for all to see. She glowed, she blossomed. She was so proud of him, in awe of him and she told us she never really felt worthy of him. In her, he saw not only the beautiful girl she was, but her inner potential, buried under layers of self doubt.

Try as she did to become the whole person for him, and for herself, she felt the continual failure and emotional conflict that ensued, as torment that would forever frustrate and hurt her beloved Hiran.  She loved him above all else, and the knowledge of the pain and anguish that their differences were causing was more than she could bear. As a deeply loving and private person she felt disloyal discussing their tragic situation.

To free her Hiran of this burden, Chelsea took her life in the tragic belief that it would make life better for the one she loved beyond beyond. How wrong she was.

Chelsea was cremated barefooted, wrapped in the vibrant quilt made for her twenty first birthday by the twenty-one most significant people in her life up to that time.  'Bear Bear' snuggled in beside, and a pair of elegant 'heels' from Hiran -just in case."

That was copied directly from the obituary on the Canterbury University website.

Chelsea Brindle Thabrew was the wife of Dr Hiran Thabrew, who knowingly signed a form committing me to a mental hospital under a Compulsory Treatment Order, when he knew full well that there was nothing wrong with me, and that the process was corrupt.  Either Dr Thabrew wouldn't know mental illness if he fell over it, or he is a deliberately sadistic psychopath who should not be 'practising' medicine.  The written reports of his colleagues speak for themselves, and are indisputable evidence of these claims.  The irony is tragic and I feel very deeply indeed for the family of Chelsea Brindle Thabrew.  

Shortly before her death she spoke of how "her husband was finding the burden of her almost too much", and that they had also had a brief time apart.  

Chelsea had been taking the drug fluoxetine, prescribed for her depression.  Medication doesn't always fix depression - addressing the causes of it usually does.

Interested persons can write to Coronial.Information@justice.govt.nz and request a copy of the Coroner's findings on the tragic death of this lovely young woman, who had her whole life ahead of her.  Certain parts of the report are under a Court suppression order, other parts are just too sad and too personal for such a private woman to be repeated here.

I only mention that 'coincidence' because of comments made recently by the Coroner regarding another local suicide, and my deep concern at the way mental health "care" is being delivered in New Zealand, and who is delivering this mental health "care", and the chilling and indisputable evidence that my incarceration was a corrupt, sadistic and politically motivated effort to 'shut me up' for criticising local police and politicians - as Dr Justin Barry-Walsh confirms in his report, as well as a number of senior lawyers.  There are links to these reports and letters in the final paragraph below.

The Hutt Valley mental health services are the subject of a "secret inquiry", because of all the suicides that occur under their watch.  

The results of that inquiry are not inspiring.

Then there's the Linda Astor fiasco, and the question, how could not one of Linda Astor's colleagues have noticed that Astor was not only not a woman, but not a psychiatrist either?  Not very observant at all.  Walter Freeman conducted thousands of brutal lobotomies, with ice picks, before his peers spoke up and stopped him.  So called 'psychiatrists' like Hiran Thabrew, Brenda Sally Rimkeit, Jacqueline Short, Sarah Romans, Gary Orr, and others are very dangerous individuals indeed.  All showed they were corrupt to the core regarding my unlawful detention.  The Health and Disability Commission, Ombudsmen's Office and other taxpayer funded organisations are dysfunctional - incompetent and corrupt, and consequently massively overworked - and changes to the justice system, administration of legal aid, access to the Family Court, etc, have eroded justice in New Zealand beyond the low standard already evident for years.  Letters from senior lawyers confirm that access to justice is now almost non existent for many people.  

I never knew Chelsea Brindle Thabrew, and I don't know how she felt, or what she was thinking or what led her to make the decision she did, apart from the information available; but I met her husband briefly, and I must say that he demonstrated a total and complete lack of empathy, insight, or basic humanity on that occasion.  The 'care' he afforded me was cruel, malicious, sadistic, dangerous, uncaring, and totally self serving - designed not to help me or care for me in any way, but to serve the interests of himself and his colleagues, and deliberately pervert the course of justice and derail a criminal trial that should have gone ahead, and did not go ahead because the charges were corruptly laid in the first place.  My experience of the mental health system was extremely disturbing on so many levels, and I have serious concerns regarding the level of incompetence and corruption evident in so many of the mental health "professionals" involved in my unlawful detention - to be lawful there would have had to be just cause to detain me in the first place, and to continue detaining me every day for three months, and there was none whatsoever.

But this isn't just about me.  I sincerely hope that this writing here does not cause distress to the family and friends of Chelsea Brindle Thabrew, and that they will accept my most sincere and heartfelt condolence on their terrible loss.  I think of her from time to time, and wish so much that she had lived a full and happy life, and her memory perches in a little place in my heart too now.

Child Abuse Cover Up Continues by Wairarapa Police:

The ongoing scandal involving NZ police covering up an epidemic of child abuse and suicide is outrageous and underlines why all New Zealanders should support the work of Transparency NZ and the FOCKCers - if we hadn't been making formal complaints and documenting them on our websites this would still be going on unnoticed - as it is NOTHING constructive whatsoever has been done about addressing these problems - police continue to bully and intimidate victims of REAL crime while they cover up for paedophiles, violent murderous criminals, etc.  The claims by local journalists that officer Mackle alerted everyone to the problem is rubbish - Mackle is one of the worst offenders!

Here's a link to a report about the corrupt, incompetent Wairarapa police and how three years after the inquiry began there's been no progress, the ongoing scandal regarding how they've been covering up for child abusers for years is unbelievable!  Click on the links below to see how long this has been going on for, and how so called "investigators" have been covering up for the offenders and ensuring they get promoted, - they never even INTERVIEWED Sgt Mark McHattie, after he threw hundreds of child abuse files in the rubbish bin and lied through his teeth and said "Hand on my heart" they'd all been resolved - read how he was PROMOTED instead of being booted right out of the public service entirely! I seem to be the only person in NZ who gives a damn about this!

Here's Wairarapa Police Area Commander John Johnston, who boasted of his refusal to resign in the wake of the scandalous backlog of hundreds of uninvestigated child abuse complaints ignored by corrupt local police under his corrupt command, arrogantly boasting of his latest corrupt coup. Here's the link to the story in the Dompost.

And here's the unbelievable story of how the man responsible for this outrageous incompetence and corruption, Detective Sergeant Mark McHattie, was promoted for it!!!!!  He should be in prison for it!

- And what are they busy doing instead?  Here's an email I received by accident - from Sergeant Basher to Sergeant Johnston:  

From: Kevin Basher/POLICE/NZ
To:         Murray Johnston/POLICE/NZ@NZPOLICE
Cc:         John Johnston/POLICE/NZ@NZPOLICE
Date: 07/09/2010 07:47
Subject: Fw: Formal Complaint, Information Request: Assault by police, refusal to take complaints or investigate them properly
Kevin Basher---07/09/2010 07:47:45---Something needs to be looked at regarding RAUE using her 'Blog" to make statements regarding our staff . . ."

This is the same as MAF's emails about "writing the perfect script"!:

"Well Nicci I suppose as Finola said, we weren't ever going to write the perfect script. Just one step at a time to shut down as many avenues as possible." 
"In terms of the animal ethics issue, if you and Hugh feel there is any legal risk if she were to take up an issue, I would move to deal with it, otherwise just ignore it again.""She rang Rhoda today (Thursday). 
Having talked with Vicki Bee, George Capes, Hugh and Grant, I told Rhonda to try and fob her off - Unfortunately she threatened to go to the papers, so I spoke to her" 

A letter from my lawyer in 2007 included the following statements:

"I am pleased at the dismissal of a number of charges against you. That is as it should have been in my view. It was always apparent from an early stage that for whatever reason you were a "lightning rod" for Police attention in Carterton. This was, in my view, most unfair to you and unwarranted Police attention resulted in unnecessary charges being laid. On reflection it would have been far better if the Police had been able to discuss any concerns they had directly with you so that those concerns may have been laid to rest in a much more appropriate way." . . . "It is clear that there were many unanswered questions from the Police. We never did get full details from them regarding some of your cases. I have been unable to go back to "the matter of the 2004 letter" simply because of the volume of paperwork and the length of time that it would ave taken to have researched that matter. I do know however that numerous letters were sent to the Police and discussions held with them to try and get some satisfaction in relation to the allegations that they made against you. As I have said, those enquiries were not always met with success."

Arrogant, corrupt idiots are being rewarded by even bigger taxpayer funded salaries for ignoring child abuse, violence and suicide epidemics in favour of harassing hard working law abiding people like me.

Go to the website of the Masterton Library and click on the link to 'Searches', 'Newspaper Index' (- not sure if that link will work), then type in keywords 'police', and 'crime', 'child abuse', murder', 'suicide', etc to see John Johnston's shameful legacy. Look how arrogant he is with getting away with this latest scandal - being appointed to the newly established role of director of sport with the NZ Police Sports Council, of which he's been chairman for 12 years. "The position was not advertised." - no, of course not! The old boys network creates jobs like this for themselves all the time! And while Johnston and his police mates bleat about not having enough resources, Police waste the precious resources they're given on the Police Sports Council and the Mounted Police and other hobbies of their own. Suzanne Mackle is being touted by the media as a hero in all this - nothing could be further from the truth! Mackle wasted her time pursuing the malicious charges resulting in the complaint to the IPCA by Michael Appleby, and committed perjury in her unsuccessful attempt to lie to the Masterton Court about the public meeting in Carterton. She should have been getting on with investigating the child abuse. Instead she was assaulting me and strip searching me for nothing and lying about it in Court!

Wairarapa police continue to refuse to charge Gary McPhee or Michael Francis Murphy. The newspaper article below is not very clear, but basically, on the left is an article waffling on about how it's giong to take 20 years to do anything about the violence and child abuse, and on the right is a picture of Carterton Mayor Gary McPhee sitting on his Harley Davidson, looking like an utter tosser, while a woman touches him up and waffles on about how this "artist" is going to paint his picture - says everything about our community leaders' priorities, doesn't it! If they were focusing on the problem instead of posing for paintings and pictures in the papers it wouldn't take 20 years! Georgina Beyer and Ron Mark are exactly the same, self serving, vain, bullshit artists. Elect the right people and the problem can be solved in about six months! Elect unemployed transvestite prostitutes with no qualifications or references, drunken bullying bikers, and failed politicians like Ron Mark and you'll get a culture of child abuse, suicide and violence - did Ron Mark ever stand in an electorate? Did anyone ever actually vote for him or was he always a list MP? Get rid of these idiots! We need a proper commission of inquiry that is going to interact constructively with the public and hold open counsel with the community! This has been going on round here for generation, everyone knows it, Constable Steve Wakefield was the worst offender! Because the inquiry is incompetently run the problem continues, and as soon as we get rid of one corrupt cop round here there are two worse ones just waiting to take their place, the problem is being deliberately ignored by MP John Hayes and Mayors Gary Daniels, Adrienne Staples and ex MP Ron Mark, who all refuse to address the matter or comment about it, they are condoning it because they're mates with the offenders! The so called independent Police Conduct Authority is as corrupt and as useless as ever after changing their name from the Police Complaints Authority - they aren't independent at all, and they are not doing their job, they are corruptly ignoring formal complaints supported by letters from several well qualified lawyers! Here is a link to a previous related article.



They've got their new police station and their little office girl to make them cups of tea and laugh at their jokes, it's just sickening.  We pay their wages, like those of Bill Wilson and John Moss, Dave Archibald and Gary Smith.

And it's not rocket science to work out the link between deliberately covering up child abuse and reabusing the victims results in Wairarapa having twice the national rate of suicide in a country with some of the highest rates in the world - regularly!

- Confirmed by the latest statistics - see page 5 and elsewhere in this latest document.